by Searles O'Dubhain

Searles O'Dubhain was one of the most prolific and learned voices on alt.religion.druid, a twenty-year contributor to the online Druid community and the founder of the Summerlands, a prominent Druid discussion forum and school. His extensive work on Ogham — including a book, multiple teaching classes, and hundreds of essays — made him the principal English-language scholar of the Ogham as a living spiritual system.

This essay, originally posted to the Summerlands forum in December 2004, explores the relationship between Ogham and imbas — the Druidic illumination practice. Searles argues that the Ogham functioned not merely as an alphabet but as a Druidic memory-compression system: a set of symbolic "keys and pointers" (Eochra Éocsi, the keys of seership) through which the trained mind could store, retrieve, and extemporaneously generate spiritual knowledge. The concept of gabhlairdeall — a "forked attention" or division of consciousness — is presented as the psychological mechanism through which imbas operates. Isaac Bonewits, founder of Ár nDraíocht Féin and one of the most significant figures in contemporary Druidry, offered his response in January 2005, broadly agreeing and adding a nuance about memory retrieval vs. capacity.

Searles posted this exchange to alt.religion.druid in August 2010, shortly after Bonewits' death, as part of a series of memorial reflections. It was originally written for the Celtic Traditions Class at the Summerlands.

In the course of looking for the log files from my Ogham Classes, I came across this discussion where Isaac Bonewits comments about a posting I made in the Summerlands concerning "Ogham and Imbas." This was not in a class session but was probably on the Druid board there, An Daire Draíochta. Isaac had attended my Ogham Divination class some years before these comments were made. I touch on the ways that Ogham could have been used to enhance seer-ship or perform imbas. Isaac said he agreed with my views (or at least 95% of what I'd stated; wonder which 5% he disagreed with?):

The Druids and the Filidh studied the Ogham and the traditional tales to establish a basis for their combined use in memory keying and the encryption of knowledge. Using the images and symbols of the Ogham, allowed Celtic sages and seers to store information in a way that was uniquely associated with the ways of the worlds around them and the characteristics of the cauldrons that are contained within each person. In other words, the Ogham were used as a form of shorthand notation to compress knowledge that was contained in more expanded and detailed concepts. In this use they are symbols of esoteric knowledge, much like the Norse Runes and the Hebrew alphabet and Cabala. The Ogham can be considered to be a Druidic/Celtic form of memory compression that is similar to the techniques that are used in today's modern computer systems and their mass storage devices. The advantage of an Ogham formatted memory system is that it is carried along with the mind of the Druid or Fili as they encounter knowledge and information in all of the various worlds and each of the states of being. As such, new knowledge can be extemporaneously expressed and encoded as it is found by using expressions that are based upon Ogham. The ability to compress information that is inherently available through Ogham allows more knowledge to be retained and communicated by the trained mind during observation as well as by the exalted spirit during imbas.

The Ogham lists and Ogham types used and learned by the Druids enabled their knowledge to be efficiently stored in memory as lists, strings, symbolic images and associated concepts. Ogham also provided a way for knowledge and information to be easily and readily retrieved through their use as keys and pointers to linked and associated memories. When Fionn's Window is used during an Ogham divination as a casting cloth for the Celtic cosmos, it is being used in a similar way to how Ogham were used during imbas with a few differences. During divination the Ogham are considered to be selected through the influences of the deities that are invoked or they are chosen by virtue of the natural psychic gifts of the seer (and/or their own connection to deity and the world of spirit). During imbas, the Ogham are used by the seer to construct extemporaneous incantations and poetry that encrypts, compresses and keys the newly realized illuminated knowledge. In the case of an Ogham reading, we are interpreting Ogham symbols as they are provided via selection and divination. In the case of imbas, we are directly hearing the voice of the seer across the barriers between the worlds, as Ogham encoded poetry.

In either case, the Ogham symbols themselves can be expanded and better understood through the learned storehouse of standard associated images that were contained within Celtic tradition and the studies of the Druids and the Filidh in their schools. It is through this study of Ogham, its resulting standardization of tradition and encoding of experience, that the Druids were able to readily access huge amounts of knowledge from memory or through divine knowing. Divination is promoted and assisted by invocation to the deities, the attainment of a meditative and receptive state of heightened awareness and a complete knowledge of the symbols and geometry of the reading methods. A good reader of Ogham will have incorporated these techniques into an integrated worldview to the point that associations and understanding are second nature and automatic.

A connection of the consciousness to the subconscious or superconscious mind among Irish Celts is called gabhlairdeall by some modern day Druids. This is defined by Seán Ó Tuathail as being a "forked attention," division of consciousness. It is this forked or dual consciousness that allows a seer to see across the veils between worlds or to communicate by speaking across the barriers. In the case of some imbas experiences, speech was directly communicated to other observing Druids and Filidh. In the case of other imbas experiences or divination, this connection was used to look into the Otherworld, past, present or future to determine the truth of a reading or an event.

I maintain that the Ogham were the alphabet of the Druids and the Filidh that allowed efficient and productive recording of this knowledge to be realized, recorded and remembered. The term for this use of Ogham as keys to knowledge is known in Irish Celtic tradition as Eochra Éocsi. This is how the Ogham were used in Celtic Magic, imbas, Draíocht and Filidecht. Discovering, teaching and understanding the specifics of these techniques is difficult at best, because such information was not well documented in written form. In fact, the use of Ogham by the Celts and the Druids seems to have been purposely concealed and obscured (many statements exist in the writings regarding the attitude that Ogham were reserved for the "learned" classes). We are not completely without guidance on this topic however. There are writings in The Book of Ballymote, The Book of Leinster and several other sources regarding the meanings of Ogham and their lists. That's why I've been able to write a book on the subject and also why I can teach courses in the use of Ogham in divination.

In the traditions and writings, there are references to the practice of "crannchur" (the casting of lots using wood or stone). There is also mention of "fidlanna" (a word that means "the placing and/or carving of Ogham fedha for use in divination"). The game of "fidchell" (wood wisdom) was an early forerunner of chess and a favorite of kings and nobility (as well as the gods...it was sometimes played to determine the fate of mortals). As I previously mentioned, the Ogham are also mentioned to be the "eochra éocsi" (keys of wisdom/seership) in several texts.

To discover the ways that Ogham were used by the Druids and the Filidh, I sometimes had to seek my own "imbas forosnai" and await that "knowledge of illumination" that comes out of the darkness of a meditation and the natural state of the mind. I also used a healthy dose of good old-fashioned common sense, hard work and study to complete the understanding. It is my belief that each Druid eventually established his/her own set of Magical Ogham meanings in a kind of imbas generated "vision quest." These personalized meanings and associations would have come out of the "inner work" that each student was expected to perform (in this, the Ogham would be akin to the Runes, which Odin was said to have "received" while suffering a shamanic death, a sacrifice of himself to himself). The Ogham tables would then have become the "keys" to that Druid's own personal or family gods, as well as the revealed knowledge that comes through imbas. These keys would then have been used to divine the future, commune with the Gods, or to travel spiritually (also known as pathworking, Imbas Forosnai, re-establishing a connection to the moment of inspiration, so to speak).

As I've previously indicated, I further believe that this type of "secret wisdom" is implied within the Ogham structure known as Fionn's Window (also known as Fionn's Wheel or Fionn's Shield). There are many legends about this Magical structure that tell how Fionn and his shield acquired wisdom and Draíocht, but that is another story for another time. :-)

— Searles O'Dubhain (Summerlands, December 2004)

Isaac Bonewits responds (January 2005):

Searles, I find myself agreeing with 95% of what you've said here, or not knowing enough to disagree since this is an area of expertise for you. :) However, I suspect that the Oghams don't actually increase memory capacity in the mind of a Druid but rather, as you point out, create a complex system of cross-references and pointers that make memory retrieval easier.

— Isaac Bonewits

Searles replies:

Isaac, I agree with your remarks when one considers only the mental level of the Ogham. As a spiritual and esoteric tool however I think they have inherent properties of their own to allow a person greater memory and connection to the web of knowledge/being.

— Searles O'Dubhain

Colophon

Written by Searles O'Dubhain for the Summerlands Druid forum, December 2004, under the heading "Ogham and Imbas." The exchange with Isaac Bonewits (1949–2010), founder of Ár nDraíocht Féin, took place on the same forum in January 2005. Reposted to alt.religion.druid by Searles O'Dubhain in August 2010, shortly after Bonewits' death.

The essay explores gabhlairdeall (forked consciousness) as the psychological mechanism of imbas forosnai, and Eochra Éocsi (the keys of seership) as the functional description of Ogham's role in Druidic knowledge transmission.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original post index: alt.religion.druid post 65252.

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